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Real-life inspirations for film's most notorious criminals

You've seen them on the big screen, but do you know where the inspiration for some of film's most notorious criminals originated?

John Wilkes Booth is the infamous American stage actor who assassinated former President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C. He was a Confederate sympathizer who was outraged by the South's defeat in the American Civil War, and he strongly opposed the abolition of slavery in the U.S. and Lincoln's proposal to extend voting rights to emancipated slaves.

In National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Nicholas Cage takes on the role treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates who hopes to uncover the mystery within the 18 pages missing from assassin John Wilkes Booth's diary. The goal? To uncover the truth behind the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

In his diary, Wilkes Booth wrote the following of Lincoln's death: "Our country owed all her troubles to him, and God simply made me the instrument of his punishment." His diary is on display at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.

Before he turned 21, legends say that William Booney -- A.K.A. Billy the Kid -- had killed 21 people. He was a major player in a turbulent battle between competing cattle empires in southeast New Mexico Territories and like many legends before him, he was hunted by the U.S. Marshals. He was eventually killed July 14, 1881 by Lincoln County (New Mexico) Sheriff Pat Garrett.

In 1988's Young Guns, Billy The Kid (played by Emilio Estevez) and his gang is wanted by the law and when Doc Scurlock and Chavez are captured, Billy has to save them. They escape and set south for Mexico. "Let's hire a thief to catch one", John S. Chisum said, so he paid Pat Garrett, one of Billy's former partners, $1000 for the killing of William H. Bonney aka Billy The Kid.

In 1958's The Left-Handed Gun, Billy the Kid (Paul Newman) gets a job with a cattleman known as 'The Englishman,' and is befriended by the peaceful, religious man. When a crooked sheriff and his men murder the Englishman because he plans to supply the local Army fort with his beef, Billy decides to avenge the death by killing the four men responsible -- Tom and Charlie, two hands he worked with, Pat Garrett, and the kindly Mexican couple who take him in when he's in trouble.

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were outlaws, robbers, and criminals who traveled the Central United States during the Great Depression. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public between 1931 and 1934. They are believed to kill at least nine police officers and committed several civilian murders. Bonnie and Clyde were eventually ambushed and killed in Louisiana by officers.

In somewhat romantized film Bonnie & Clyde featuring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, a bored small-town girl and a small-time bank robber leave in their wake a string of violent robberies and newspaper headlines that catch the imagination of the Depression-struck Mid-West in this take on the legendary crime spree of these archetypal lovers on the run.

Author Robert Bloch was inspired by Ed Gein to write a story about Norman Bates. Gein was the murderer and grave robber from Wisconsin who exhumed corpses from graveyards and fashioned trophies and keepsakes from their bones and skins.

Bloch's Norman Bates was the central theme of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, a film about an office worker named Marion Crane who gets caught in a storm and pulls into The Bates Motel, managed by a young man named Norman.

Gein was also the inspiration for the serial killer Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs. In the film, Buffalo Bill treasured women's skin and wore it like clothing.

There is only one kill that is documented to have been by the hand of John Dillinger, Jr., but the notorious bank robber robbed two dozen banks and four police stations. The gangster escaped jail twice and evaded police in four states for almost a year, but Dillinger was shot and killed outside the Biograph Theatre in Chicago, Illinois on July 22, 1934.

Johnny Depp portrayed John Dillinger in 2009's Public Enemies. The film centers on the FBI's hunt for the notorious gangster during the 1930s, and how Dillinger was eventually betrayed by an acquaintance who told the Feds where he would be on the night of his death.

Al Capone led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate from the early 1920s to 1931. His group was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, as well as other illegal activities like prostitution. He was viewed by many as a modern day Robin Hood, but was later found to be involved in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre that killed seven of his rival gang members. Capone was also found guilty of tax evasion and sent to federal prison.

The fictional account of the arrest of Al Capone in The Untouchables follows federal agent Elliot Ness, who assembles a personal team of mob fighters to bring Capone to justice using unconventional means.

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre traces the history of the date in 1929 when Al Capone dressed as law enforcement and killed the key members of Bugs Moran's rival gang.

Former FBI agent Joe Pistone (pictured) was a pioneer for deep long-term undercover work. He infiltrated the Bonanno crime family using the alias Donnie Brasco, an expert jewel thief. Pistone's assignment was intended to last about six months, but it ended up lasting six years. Joseph Bonanno led one the Bonanno Family for 30 years, spanning from the 1930s to the 1960s. He became boss at the age of 26 and was one of the few mob bosses to retire from organized crime.

1997's Donnie Brasco followed the true story of Pistone's infiltration of the Bonanno Family. The film highlights his ability to embed himself in the mafia lifestyle, but also shows the trials and tribulations of the undercover work that eventually became more than Pistone could handle.

Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine, shot and killed former President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. He was initially arrested for killing officer J.D. Tippit 40 minutes after Kennedy was shot, but Oswald was later suspected of assassinating Kennedy. Two days after his arrest, Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby while being transferred from police headquarters to county jail.

The 1991 film JFK details the actions of New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, who takes it upon himself to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Garrison is suspicious of the official story presented by the FBI, and his investigations lead him to suspect that there is more to the story than the public is being told.

Charles Manson was the inspiration for the 2004 television film Helter Skelter, a new take on the Manson Family murders that focuses on Manson himself.

The 2004 film Monster is based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos, one of America's first female serial killers who murdered seven men, claiming they raped or attempted to rape her while she was working as a prostitute. The film focuses on the nine month period between 1989 and 1990 when Wuornos had a relationship with a woman named Selby. It was the same time she began murdering her clientele.

John Gotti, Jr. is the inspiration for the film Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father, which will focus on Gotti's life. Gotti, Jr. became the boss of the Gambino crime family, making hundreds of millions of dollars a year from construction, hijacking, loan sharing, gambling, extortion and other criminal activities. He was the most powerful crime boss during his era.

The self-proclaimed Zodiac Killer, whose identity remains a mystery, operated in Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The killer sent a series of taunting letters to the Bay Area press that included four cryptograms, three of which have yet to be solved. Numerous suspects have been named by law enforcement, but no conclusive evidence has surfaced. The care was re-opened in 2007 by several California Counties.

In the lightly fictionalized 2007 film Zodiac, investigators and reporters become obsessed with the case as they search for the Zodiac Killer. The film is based on Robert Graysmith's book.

The kidnapping of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. -- dubbed at the Lindbergh Kidnapping -- was an investigation that lasted more than two years. The toddler was abducted at 20 months old from his home in New Jersey, and his body was discovered over two months later. Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested and charged with the crime, but he proclaimed his innocence to his death.

The film Crime of the Century dramatizes the investigation against Bruno Richard Hauptmann, including his trial and execution. The film paints a picture of a corrupt police that is forced under pressure to frame an innocent man by manufacturing evidence and covering up exculpatory evidence.

Charles Arthur Pretty Boy Floyd was a bank robber who operated in various parts of the Midwest, garnering heavy press coverage in the 1930s. He is most known for a mass murder that was committed in front of Union Railway Station, what later became the Kansas City Massacre. The Kansas City Massacre was an attempt by Pretty Boy Floyd to free federal prisoner Frank Nash. The killings took the lives of four peace officers and their prisoner.

The Kansas City Massacre was depicted in the television film similarly named. The film follows FBI agent Melvin Purvis as he puts together a special squad to track down and capture Pretty Boy Floyd.

Based on the true story of Frank Lucas, 2007's American Gangster depicts Lucas' rise to the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. The film also tells the story of honest policeman Richie Roberts, who heads a joint narcotics task force with the Federal government. Frank Lucas was an organized crime boss and heroin dealer during the late 1960s and early 1970s who was known for buying heroin directly from the source.

George Jacob Jung was a major player in the United States cocaine trade in the 1970s and early 1980s, and was responsible for up to 85 percent of the cocaine smuggled into the U.S. His life story was portrayed in the 2011 film Blow, which starred Johnny Depp as Jung.

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